Chubby Brown and X-Factor finalists reveal World Cup goal

A SONGWRITER has teamed up with veteran comedian Chubby Brown and former X-factor contestants Journey South in a bid to net the number one single during this year’s football World Cup.

Robin Ward, of Thirsk, North Yorkshire, said he hopes his reworking of the 1981 punk hit Swords Of A Thousand Men by Tenpole Tudor will see off competition from Gary Barlow’s official England 2014 FIFA World Cup song Greatest Day.

Mr Ward said he believes Hopes Of A Thousand Men is a more rousing anthem than the Take That singer’s song featuring footballers ex-England footballers Michael Owen, Gary Lineker, and Glenn Hoddle, alongside pop stars Emma Bunton and Kimberley Walsh.

He said: “I have a lot of respect for Gary Barlow, but I don’t think they a chosen a good tune for a World Cup anthem.

“The words came quite quickly. I recorded it four years ago, but I couldn’t get the right people to collaborate at the time.”

Mr Ward said the controversial stand-up comedian, whose cover version of Living Next Door To Alice reached number three in the UK singles chart in 1995, had jumped at the chance of performing the song.

He then contacted Middlesbrough-based duo Journey South, Andy and Carl Pemberton, who were placed third on The X Factor in 2005, to perform the main body of the song.

Mr Brown, who lives near Northallerton, said: “I think the song is very catchy, but so was The Black Death.”

A video, which features scores of extras from North Yorkshire sees a growing crowd following a 1966-style leather football through various locations in the Thirsk area, including Sandhutton Airfield, has been shot to promote the song.

The song will be available for pre-order from April 23 and released on June 1.